We’re here. TEDMED 2010. If you remember last year’s coverage, we ran a summary post at the end of each day. We think it’s the best way to truly capture the full day at TEDMED, but keep in mind that we’ll also be running individual posts on the technologies, innovations, and ideas we found to be the most fascinating. So stayed tuned over the coming days as our complete coverage unfolds.TEDMED kicked off yesterday at 5pm with an exceptionally moving talk by Charity Tilleman-Dick. Charity is an opera singer… an opera singer who one year ago woke up from a coma after undergoing a double lung transplant. The conference started with Charity singing a beautiful post-transplant aria which nearly all of her doctors told her she’d never be able to do. The story of her complications from idiopathic pulmonary hypertension highlighted her courage as well as the medical advances that kept her alive (and singing) after what her surgeon described as "one of the most difficult transplants he had ever performed."Aptly, the second talk was Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, who described his lab’s technology to keep lungs alive outside of the body through nutrient rich perfusion and inflation. Why would doctors want to do this? Dr. Keshavjee explained that often lungs harvested for transplant have problems such as pneumonia and the current standard of care is to either not use them, or, transplant them without truly knowing how they’ll work. If a physician is able to cure, fix, or enhance the set of donor lungs outside the body, it theoretically could lead to higher quality lungs for patients and thus, better transplant outcomes. Not only that, but they’re working on genetically modifying the lungs through adenoviral vectors with a gene for Interleukin 10 (IL-10), an anti-inflammatory cytokine. This protein helps prevent some of the immunologically triggered inflammation responses that lead to organ rejection.
During his talk, Dr. Keshavjee surprised the audience by bringing out a huge machine with a set of live pig lungs, held in suspension on a tray of sorts, being actively inflated and perfused. Members of the TEDMED audience were allowed to come up on stage and give the lungs a squeeze, leading to one of the most memorable moments of the day: Martha Stewart giving a set of living, breathing pig lungs a grab.

Up next was a short talk by Rick Smolan, a photographer famous for his "A Day in the Life" series that tells stories through vivid pictures that he collected and curated. His latest project, "Medicine’s Great Journey," uses pictures to showcase just how recent the medical advances we currently take for granted are. He walked us through a quick set of medically related images ranging from a treatment center filled with iron lungs to a modern day operating room.Nathan Myhrvold, former CTO of Microsoft and founder of Intellectual Ventures jumped on stage next for an extended talk (TEDMED is breaking outside the traditional 18 minute format this time around) on a few ideas his firm has thought up in the medical technology space. His medical ideas, though only in the prototype stage, were quite interesting.
First he discussed a coating of sorts that might be integrated into hospital surfaces or devices that, through total internal reflection (trapping between two surfaces) of UV light, would automatically disinfect themselves. It’s a compelling idea because UV light kills bacteria, but really, you only want it to disinfect things that are touching the surface itself, like bacteria. Shining UV light on on the whole surface doesn’t work because it would end up giving everyone a tan (or skin cancer), but locking the UV light up inside of the surface and only allowing it to penetrate when bacteria is indeed present just might.
Intellectual Venture’s second idea is about preventing pressure ulcers, a $20-25 billion complication of being either bedridden or wheelchair confined, through the use of a light activated nitric oxide bandage that would kill infection causing bacteria, and might improve local perfusion through vasodilation.
Third, and perhaps most interestingly, was Intellectual Venture’s idea of using x-ray back-scattering to improve medical imaging. The current paradigm in x-ray technology is that x-rays are allowed to pass through the body, and because certain tissues absorb x-rays better than others, we’re able to visualize different tissue types and thus, biological structures. However, this requires, almost by definition, high powered x-rays because they need to go all the way through the body. However, x-rays also bounce off their targets and, it turns out, that they bounce off different targets in different ways. For instance, x-rays bounce off calcium and iron atoms much more than other atoms. Defining these subtleties just might lead to a 1" low powered x-ray, in which a practicing surgeon would be able to constantly and safely see what’s 1" below the surface of the tissue he’s currently operating on. It could be x-ray vision, made real.After Nathan Myhrvoid, Dr. Nathan Wolfe, self proclaimed ‘virus hunter’ and head of the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, spoke in detail on the genetic diversity of viruses and the various historical interaction opportunities viruses have had to infect between and across species. The number of interactions that lead to viral spread have increased over human history. Hunting, for instance, allowed the mixing of blood and tissues between animal and man, facilitating the spread of viruses. And the development of transportation networks, naturally, contribute to viral spread. So, in an increasingly connected world to do, what are we to do? Dr. Wolfe suggests that social data from sites such as Facebook will be used in the future to predict and manage viral spread. If a Facebook user were to, say, update their status saying they were sick, we might easily predict how the virus might spread by looking at the user’s location and friends.
The day closed with a performance my magician Erik Mead, a tour of some medically related pieces from Jay Walker’s (founder of Priceline.com) personal “Library of Human Imagination,” and a witty and comical performance by TEDMED veteran singer-songwriter Jill Sobule on, yes, the tragedy of today’s slutty Halloween Costumes.
One day over, three more to go!

Sean is the Co-Founder and CEO of Omada Health, (http://omadahealth.com), a Silicon Valley startup that aims brings thoughtful and engaging products to disease prevention and health promotion. Prior to Omada Health, Sean was enrolled in Harvard’s joint MD/MBA program, and previously worked in IDEO’s Health & Wellness group driving innovative work for providers, health technology companies, and employers. Sean also spent two years at Google, served as an editor at Medgadget.com, and was recently named as one of the "40 Under 40" top medtech innovators by MDDI. He received his BS from Columbia University.

Event Details

ME Conferences is organizing "18th International Conference on Gastroenterology and Digestive Disorders" during September 16-17, 2019, Dubai, UAE. Conference highlights

more

Event Details

ME Conferences is organizing “18th International Conference on Gastroenterology and Digestive Disorders” during September 16-17, 2019, Dubai, UAE. Conference highlights the theme- Improving Access in Gastroenterology: From Past to Future.

Gastro Meet 2019 is a leading platform for a focused agenda of the current research in the field of gastroenterology which includes, guest lectures, keynotes, symposiums, workshops, exhibitions, panel discussions, and poster sessions. We invite Gastroenterologists, Hepatologists, General Physicians, Microbiologists, Oncologists, Surgeons, Researchers, Students, and Business delegates to join us at Dubai in August 2018 for the 2-day power packed Gastroenterologists Meet.

Time

september 16 (Monday) - 17 (Tuesday)

Organizer

Event Details

Join thousands of passionate innovators at Europe's greatest festival of health tech innovation. The Global Innovation and New Technology Health Event showcases leading health tech from around the world and

Event Details

Join thousands of passionate innovators at Europe’s greatest festival of health tech innovation. The Global Innovation and New Technology Health Event showcases leading health tech from around the world and is accelerating innovation in an inspiring and creative environment. Super early bird half-price ticket sales begins on 7 May.

Time

Location

Event Details

LogiMed is the only European event designed for medical device supply chain directors and their teams. It is where Heads of Supply Chain and Logistics from the top pharma companies

more

Event Details

LogiMed is the only European event designed for medical device supply chain directors and their teams. It is where Heads of Supply Chain and Logistics from the top pharma companies in Europe gather to benchmark, interact, network and develop professionally.

Only at LogiMed will you have the chance to learn from and network with all the major medical device companies, key hospitals, and the most innovative industry suppliers. All openly sharing the do’s and don’ts to help you adapt to new regulations, redefine your supply chain strategy-covering planning, logistics and customer service to achieve greater end-to-end supply chain operations.

Download the agenda to find out exactly who is speaking, what the hottest topics are and how LogiMed can benefit you. LogiMed 2019 will bring together 250 Medical Device Supply Chain Professionals and 50 expert speakers over 2 value packed days.

Time

Location

Event Details

HLTH is the largest and most important conference for health innovation. It’s an unprecedented, large-scale forum for collaboration across senior

more

Event Details

HLTH is the largest and most important conference for health innovation. It’s an unprecedented, large-scale forum for collaboration across senior leaders from established payers, providers, employers, and pharma services, as well as from disruptive startups, prolific investors, representatives from government, academia, health associations, business groups, media, and industry analysts. The event is unique in creating a marketplace for the key stakeholders leading the dialogue and development of a new health ecosystem. HLTH’s mission is to be a catalyst to drive substantial reductions in health costs and dramatic increases in health quality. HLTH takes place on October 27-30, 2019 at the MGM Grand’s brand new conference facility.

Medgadget readers can receive $150 off a HLTH ticket with code medgadget150.

Time

october 27 (Sunday) - 30 (Wednesday)

Location

Event Details

Exponential Medicine is a unique and intensive four-day experience that gathers world-class faculty, innovators and organizations from across the biomedical and technology spectrum to explore and leverage the convergence of

more

Event Details

Exponential Medicine is a unique and intensive four-day experience that gathers world-class faculty, innovators and organizations from across the biomedical and technology spectrum to explore and leverage the convergence of fast moving technologies in the reinvention of health and medicine.

Our home in San Diego at the iconic Hotel del Coronado is the magic X-factor in building connections and catalyzing deeper-than-usual conversation among faculty and participants. We make full use of one of America’s most beautiful seaside resorts; its history beautifully complements the future-focus of Exponential Medicine.

From talks given in a custom-designed theater with multiple configurations for listening and idea generation, to our hands-on technology lab, beachside morning yoga, dinners, and bonfires—Exponential Medicine is a high energy, bold redesign of a medical conference.

Time

Event Details

The World Hospital Congress of the International Hospital Federation (IHF) is a unique global forum that brings together leaders of

more

Event Details

The World Hospital Congress of the International Hospital Federation (IHF) is a unique global forum that brings together leaders of national and international hospital and healthcare organizations to discuss key drivers of national and international policy, management, financial trends and solutions in healthcare management and service delivery. Through this forum multidisciplinary exchange of knowledge, expertise and experiences are facilitated, together with dialogue on best practices in leadership in hospital and healthcare management and delivery of services. The IHF World Hospital Congress is a one-stop shop for the healthcare professional seeking the opportunity and environment in which to engage in a 360-degree learning and knowledge-sharing experience among peers.

The Ministry of Health of the Sultanate of Oman is proud to host the 43rd World Hospital Congress with the theme “People at the heart of health services in peace and crisis”. Together with the IHF, they invite all hospital and health service leaders from around the globe to join the event on 7-9 November 2019 in Muscat.

Medical technologies transform the world! Join us and see the progress in real time. At Medgadget, we report the latest technology news, interview leaders in the field, and file dispatches from medical events around the world since 2004.